“I know,” Gastropé gestured broadly. “That’s why I have no idea how it would have got there. I have never heard of a demon able to bind itself, and it is a traditional one way binding with me as the master, let alone one of that order. Have you?” Gastropé looked at Maelen.
Maelen was still staring at the link, apparently. “No, never heard of that, but following it, I am pretty sure you are right and that Tizzy’s on the other end of it. When did it appear?”
Gastropé shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t usually go looking at myself with wizard sight. So it could have been there for quite some time.”
“Do you suppose the demon Tom did it?” Jenn asked.
“When? You’ve been with me whenever he’s been around.” That was a lie, of course; he and Edwyrd had spent a lot of time together, but neither Maelen nor Jenn knew that Tom and Edwyrd were the same person. However, Gastropé had never seen Edwyrd casting any spells. Besides, Edwyrd was an animage, and this was definitely a classic wizard spell in structure; not something an animage would do. At least, he did not think so.
Further discussion was cut off as Elrose and Trevin entered the hall. “Good morning, everyone!” Trevin greeted them. She was wearing what appeared to be a leather and fur-lined version of her normal attire. Much warmer, more rustic but still way too revealing for her age, Gastropé noted. That was one thing he and Jenn could completely agree on. Particularly when the enchantress started running her eyes up and down his torso while looking at him.
The two wizards took some wooden plates and began filling them, and Gastropé decided to do the same.
“Jenn and Maelen, I think your travel clothes for today are fine, but my dear Gastropé, as much as I love your outfit, I fear you may get a bit cold this morning,” Trevin said as she speared a large chunk of melon to put on her plate.
“I’ve got a jacket in my backpack I can put on,” Gastropé said.
“Good, you’ll want it. We are taking the lift up to the western landing, which is about a league straight up!” She smiled and looked at all of them. “We will then enter the western gate and take the tunnel through the mountain to the eastern front. From there, I will open the Fierdal Bridge at dawn, which will transport us into the Grove.”
“The Fierdal Bridge?” Maelen asked.
“Yes, it’s not dissimilar to a Prismatic Bridge, except that it only works when Fierd is at certain positions in the sky, and those positions determine where the bridge goes. At different points during the day, opening it will take you to different locations within the Grove.” She paused and smiled. “Some of those locations aren’t particularly pleasant, so you are all advised not to try to force the gate’s guardians to open it, or you may find yourself in a less than ideal spot.” She chuckled. “Like inside of Fierd herself!”
Gastropé made a sour face at that thought. Jenn was not looking exactly comfortable either. They were definitely going to be at the mercy of the wizard.
“What are we going to do?” Iskerus asked Barabus.
“I don’t know about you, but I plan to try to get some sleep before Fierd rises. Perhaps an hour or two?” Barabus put his head in his hands, elbows on the table. They and the two knights had spent the night being debriefed by a sword. A sword, for Tiernon’s sake!
Ruiden had gone out to personally inspect the battle scene and the site of the former hole through which Talarius had been dropped. Swords, logically enough, did not sleep. Ruiden had informed them that he would be working around the clock to find Talarius.
“I’m concerned this Ruiden — golem — whatever it is could be a problem.” Iskerus said.
“Do you have any idea how to stop him — it?” Barabus asked. “Its arms and legs are razor-edged blades, as are its fingers! Hell, almost every part of him is sharp. And he’s an animated inanimate object! How do you kill a sword?”
“By melting it?” Iskerus shrugged, depressed.
“Yeah, and who exactly is going to catch it to toss it in a volcano?” Barabus asked through his hands.
“Swords aren’t supposed to move on their own,” Iskerus moaned. “Sure, we all know about swords that can fly to their owner’s hand and such, but walk around and talk? Take notes?”
“Where is a heavenly host of avatars when you need one?” Barabus looked up from his hands. “I am reasonably certain an avatar could force him to change back into a sword.”
“Really?” Iskerus asked skeptically. “How many demons has Talarius slain? That we know of? Consider what Talarius did with Ruiden to that super-demon right here in this camp. You think the sword couldn’t at least slow an avatar down to get away?”
Barabus stood up to go to his cot. “Then we shall just have to try and reason with it, I suppose.”
“Yes, because words so often win out over swords,” Iskerus said sarcastically.
Jenn clutched her cloak tightly about her shoulders; the wind was wicked. Given their current location, she was extremely glad for the predawn darkness on the western side of this very large mountain. Their party was a tight fit in the lift and she had gotten pushed up against the side. Fortunately, the lift had cross-hatched metal wire walls; more like a cage or fence, actually. The walls were completely open to the wind, but they ran from floor to ceiling to keep people in with small enough openings between the metal wires that nothing very large could fall out. It was a tight fit with all of them and their backpacks; thankfully, Trevin had sent both her and Elrose’s extra trunks up earlier.
The darkness hid their true height as the lift barreled along up the cliff face. She had made the mistake of looking down as they’d left the keep, which was fairly well lit for their departure. The dizzying speed at which the lights of the keep had shrunk made it very clear how high they were rising.
The lift was basically two platforms, a roof and floor, with support posts between in each corner, wrapped in the linked fencing. It was attached — or guided by, she guessed was the word — twin metal rails that scaled the mountain cliff. The vertical rails were at each corner and on each of the longer sides of the lift cage. The rails were I-shaped and the cage sides each had a double set of wheels that ran along the inside and outside of the rails. Sort of like mechanical sliding drawers, except with wheels on both side of the guide rail.
According to Trevin, the roof and floor were inscribed with runes and gems that controlled high and low pressure zones below and above the lift. The floor generated a region of high pressure below it and the roof generated a low pressure region above the cage; the combination when activated caused the lift to rise quickly, or conversely to descend at a controlled pace by balancing the pull of gravity. The metal rails kept the lift cage on a direct path up the mountainside. At first the rails provided a gentle rocking, but by the time the cage reached its full climbing speed, Jenn felt like she was inside a dice cup.
Trevin had explained that the mountain’s abrupt height created extremely high winds which made it unsafe for winged creatures and flying carpets to ascend the mountainside; hence, the lift. Jenn could attest firsthand to the winds. She was feeling battered herself, between the wind and the shaking on the rails, but she was reaching her limits. If it had been light out, she was pretty sure vertigo would have conspired with the wind and rails to relieve her of her breakfast and the previous night’s dinner.
They were going a league straight up into the air. Jenn had never been that high before. Very few carpets flew at that height, unless they were crossing mountain peaks, but even then, most people would just fly through valleys to avoid going so high. Trevin had warned them that as they got higher in altitude, the air would become thinner and thus they should pace themselves once they got to the top, since they would not be used to the altitude and thin air. Jenn could attest to the enchantress’s accuracy. Her ears kept plugging up and then she would have to move her jaw to get them to “pop,” as Trevin had called it.